How can I get my first paying customer?

There are no specific tactics to get paying customers. It is viable to build a customer base prior to having an actual product. Out of the free users, you can expect some to turn into paid users. A few ways that can assist you in getting paying customers are:

Ensure your product is solving a real problem

Much efforts are not required to attract people if a product solves a problem that users often experience. Prior to product development, make certain your product serves the same purpose of solving a problem that other competing products cannot.

Reach out to friends and references

Even if you do not have an impressive network initially, you may be knowing some business owners. These are the individuals you can reach out to. Either send them e-mails or choose any other mode of communication to let them know about your product and invite them to discuss their business requirements.

Learn from your competitor’s customers

Get into the discussion with the customers who used your competitor’s software. The feedback received can be enormously helpful in determining if you need to improve a particular feature or multiple features of your product in order to make it better for the users.

Go fishing on social media sites

Look for the people complaining about your competitors’ products and ask them if they can chat. This would help you to know the loopholes in your competing products and the problems being caused due to the same.

Create early content

“Content is king”. Follow this saying and create early content to let maximum people know about your existence. Blogging can really help in this venture, bringing adequate number of clicks to your site. Additionally, Press Releases also serve as perfect means to mark your web presence.

Getting first paying customer calls for a lot of legwork. But that does not mean accomplishing desired results is impossible. You need to have full confidence in your product and clear vision. Better use “Lean Methodology” in building your product.